FIGS

iTrader: (11)

I think the last time I brought this up everyone said they had never experienced it, well its good and bad to see the problem finally moving somewhere and being recognized as likely the largest weakness the F has to track duty. We were about 90% done with a solution when I pulled the plug to work on other things but in my mind its not about heat exchanger area as I think the oil/water exchanger does an adequate job, proven by the fact that in one case we had coolant overheat shortly after oil temps hitting the 265 mark using higher viscosity oil in an effort to fight the thermal slope. I think if the factory radiator was augmented it would quickly solve the problem with out additional controls and or side effects. The CCSR had been testing the RC-F motor for a while, Pikes peak(which is where I first raised the issue to the lead tech of the factory race program), 25hrs and various other transplant testing in Japan. I think the OE solution will net the most stable and long term results with the widest statistical sample data set. Looks like a promising direction, I can't believe I missed this thread.

RRRacing

iTrader: (1)

Guys, our oil cooler kit is complete and ready to ship. Please PM us for pricing, but I promise the pricing will be very reasonable, especially considering we built this with top-shelf parts only. No cheap Chinese fittings or cooler cores here! We will have it up on our site shortly:

Product specs:

- 25 row Swedish made genuine Setrab oil cooler
- Mocal 185F thermostatic sandwich plate
- Genuine Mocal fittings
- Genuine Mocal -12an swivel fittings for maximum flow with no pressure drop
- -12an Stainless steel braided oil lines for maximum durability
- All required brackets and hardware for installation
- The OEM heat exchanger is retained and can either be bypassed by coolant or connected to coolant.
- Basic installation does not require bumper removal -- more advanced installation with bumper beam trimming and ducting requires bumper removal.
- We chose vertical mounting orientation to permit draining of the cooler during oil changes. Cooler adds almost 1 quart of oil capacity to the system.
- 15 degree F reduction in oil temps with Factory Oil cooler bypassed (yields approx. 5-8F drop in coolant temps)
- 30+degree F reduction in oil temperature with Factory Oil cooler retained.
- We have done some preliminary testing that indicates a 30+deg F temp drop is achievable without OEM heat exchanger if some minor trimming of the bumper beam is performed and minor ducting is added. This is not necessary, but we will post more info once we have thoroughly tested the ducted setup.

Why do you need an oil cooler:

The Lexus IS-F runs very high oil temperature under track or aggressive canyon road conditions. That is why Lexus added an auxiliary oil cooler to the RCF. Running an oil cooler at the track will improve the reliability, durability, and longevity of your engine by reducing oil temperatures, ensuring that your oil maintains adequate viscosity to protect vital engine parts such as bearings and piston rings.

-Rafi

I8ABMR

I have pushed my F on the track to where the oil temperature light has come on. I had to back off for 3/4 of a lap and the light went off. Id be game for better oil cooling at the track. Either that or or stop doing track days in ambient temps higher than 85 degrees, which is what I have been doing. NASA ran in the day time in the Summer here. Proauto here starts at 6am and ends at 10am . Much better for the car with the car never getting over 1-2 bars from the top, and I can still get home and download my video before the kids are even ready to head out for the day. Its great

JamesISF

When is this product gonna be finalized?

MileHIFcar

I'm assuming when the oil temp light went on you were at 7 bars (maxed) on the readout??

I haven't had my car but 6 weeks and when I went up to the canyons last weekend with the AOS installed I did hit 5 bars on the oil temp gauge for two 20 min intervals while driving pretty aggressively. At what point should you start to worry about the oil temps doing damage to the car over a prolonged period of time??

Also what are the temps on the gauge again? I think Rafi had said before what they translate to in terms of degrees F.

RRRacing

iTrader: (1)

Product is done. We will have this up on the website by this evening.

We priced this at $645, which is in line with what Stillen and others are charging for similar 25 row Setrab based kits for Nissan 370z's, even though there are a lot less ISF's out there than 370z's:-)

Rafi

I8ABMR

I wouldnt worry about it unless its all the way to the top. Usually with my track days I am usually 1 bar from the top. All you need to do is realize that the viscosity will break down with higher temps so just replace your oil as directed by Toyota at 5k. Dont stretch the oil to 10-12k like some here do. Just my opinion if you drive the car as it should be driven. If you track the car then maybe consider this new cooler for the oil.

Not sure what Im going to do yet because I have been running with a race group that actually knows how to avoid running in the heat unlike NASA. We start at 6 and close the track at 10 am. I was home last time in time to take the kids to lunch and a movie

MileHIFcar

I'm guessing that would be standard practice to race early and get done early with the AZ heat!! I'm surprised NASA doesn't do early track events down there??

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

My UOA does not support this assertion at all. This report is after 11,966 miles including two track weekends on the same oil



But there is no doubt, it isn't ideal to run as hot as the F gets on a track day, especially in the heat. I've run in 102F at CMP and seen one bar from the top as well.

This is what you are seeing in degrees F. So when the bar from the top lights, you're at 266F. The top bar won't come on until you exceed 284F.



Also, no evidence of oil temperature issues at the 60k mile valve lash inspection:





For comparison's sake - posted somewhere on the net is this BMW:

RRRacing

iTrader: (1)

At least we agree that the F runs too hot on track days.

If you see any varnish on the valvetrain at all, that would spell disaster. I've seen bearing failures on Subaru EJ25's (STi) and Honda F20C's (S2000) and the engines were extremely clean.

Also, you cant deny the fact that Lexus saw fit to add an auxiliary oil cooler to the RCF. Its not like its making much more power than most ISF's. Looks like the RCF is only making about 380whp on a dynojet from several postings I've seen, which is about where many ISF's are with basic bolt-ons.






Nissan takes things a step further and actually puts the ECU in to limp mode at about 280F, which equates to the 6 to 7 bar transition on our cars.

My ISF is a keeper, and I plan on tracking my F at 100k+ miles.... so an oil cooler is relatively inexpensive insurance.

-Rafi

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I completely agree the F needs additional oil cooling, and there is no doubt your kit has all the things I would purchase if I were building it myself. You can't beat Setrab and Mocal for race quality parts.

I've never seen a rod bearing fail for oil temperature, but I have seen them fail for aeration. My dad built a device to centrifugally remove air entrapped in oil on the circle track cars he used to wrench. Air bubbles are the kiss of death to any bearing - rod or main. Last I heard he was talking to Moroso about producing it in quantity.

The other available "trick" is to run ILSAC GF-4 qualified oil. A key test is the Sequence IIIG, which involves running a GM 3.8 L V-6 at 125 horsepower (93 kW), 3600 rpm, and 150 °C (300 °F) oil temperature for 100 hours. If it can tolerate this, it will likely work fine in Corvettes or IS Fs both of which need additional oil cooling from the factory when run hard.

I8ABMR

I actually think full bars comes before the red light started flashing. Not sure because I was obviously driving really fast lol.

They actually do but no as early and they run into the afternoon , whereas ProAuto is literally closing the gates to the track at 10 am

Thanks for posting that graph of the oil temps .Kind of cool to see it quantified like that. As far as the frequency of my oil changes, I figure for the price of oil , the AZ heat and dust, repeated track days, and the nice free GS350 F sport loaner I usually get I would rather not deviate from what is factory recommended with my oil. There is no negative effect of replacing it early plus its what is recommended by Lexus so I just go along. Plus when I do the track days I kinda feel guilty for pushing the car so I figure if Im going to demand what I do of the car I might as well baby her as much as I can. Guys like you are smarter because you do it based on objective info. All I know is that stupid yellow light is on and I need to take it in to have it turned off.

I am shocked and amazed at that photo of the BMW motor. I am sticking with Lexus

MileHIFcar

No kidding Looks like a sludge bomb exploded in that motor!

Any backstory to that BMW motor pic? M3/E90....?

Jowett

This will take care of it.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I misspoke. It is a Saturn. I got it as a result of a google image search for BMW...there are plenty of Bimmer results for the same search,